Transport cost drives inflationary pressure in Oman

Muscat: Oman’s consumer inflation in December 2016 increased by 1.13 per cent compared with prices in the same month of 2015, according to the latest bulletin issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
A price escalation of 9.42 per cent in the transport segment, along with a 0.58 per cent rise in prices of housing, water, electricity and fuels set contributed significantly to the inflation.
The other sub-segment in the CPI basket of goods and services that logged a price rise included restaurants and hotels at 0.48 per cent, education at 2.85 per cent, and furnishings, household equipment and maintenance at 0.62 per cent. The health segment too registered an upward price movement at 0.66 per cent in the month of December compared with last year.
Interestingly, the tobacco products witnessed a whopping 21.88 per cent growth.
However, a nearly 3 per cent fall in prices of foods and non-alcoholic beverages sub-segment reined in the inflationary pressure to an extent. Also, easing of prices in the clothing and footwear at 0.42 per cent, along with a 3 per cent drop in prices of the communication segment and a 0.45 per cent fall in recreation and culture segment helped tame the inflationary pressure in December 2016.Other products and services witnessed a 0.20 per cent rise in prices.
In the foods segment, vegetable prices went down by 14.52 per cent, while prices of fruits dropped by 5.37 per cent. Further, the prices of bread and cereals fell by 1.12 per cent, while fish and seafood declined by 3.29 per cent. Milk, cheese and eggs too turned cheaper by 2.25 per cent. The oils and fats sub-segment saw prices cool off by a marginal 0.15 per cent in the month.
In contrast, meat products witnessed an inflationary pressure of 0.21 per cent along with a 0.42 per cent price rise in the sugar, jam, honey and confectionary sub-segment. Other food products logged a price fall of 0.32 per cent.
Non-alcoholic beverages prices edged up by 0.77 per cent in December as against prices in the same month of 2015.
Looking at the past year as a whole, the Sultanate's average consumer inflation stood at 1.12 per cent compared withthe inflation of 2015.